I heard on the radio the other day and read in the paper that Texas is considering a bill to put a tax on the water I draw out of my own private water well. According to them, Texas owns the water under the ground. Everyone around here has their own well since there is no commercial water feeds in this area and according to the county, they don't plan on putting any. What's next ? claiming they own the air in Texas too, and charging us a tax on the cubic feet of air we breathe per our body size ?

 

Actually I don't think it's legal for them to charge or tax a service that they don't provide. If they provide the pump or service or something I could see but otherwise I don't think that would legally hold water. Is this a state, county, or city thing?

Sure this wasn't an April fools thing on the radio?

 

That is the way it is out here in the Mojave Desert. Retarded city planners failed to forsee that our sudden and booming growth would kill our aquifers. At least in our town if you have a well you have to pay some kind of fee because we now have to buy water from the California Aquaduct to try to refill our water table. They've also increased water rates for those who are on city water to unbelievable amounts. We only water one acre with a small patch of lawn and some trees and in the summer we can generate around a $200 a month water bill.

 

My community has a pumping tax on agricultural irrigation wells. The local water district claimed that the private wells deprived them of revenue. So they lobbied the county to tax the private user's. It's polly-tics.

 

It's supposed to be the state that wants to do this. Texas has this mineral rights thing that you only own the surface and not whats underneath. Unless their banking on the people thinking that the water falls into that catagory as well. I'm not out in the desert, I'm in the soggy southeast side of Texas. According to the paper, this will pertain to homeowners wells only. I hoping this is just talk right now and doesen't get passed.

 

build a gigantic sistern... thats what i'd do

 

I don't have a clue about Texas water laws, and little more about ours in Colorado. I do know they are the most complicated laws on the books for ANYTHING! I would guess that the state of Texas can do pretty much what they want regarding taxing and controlling well water. Water rights are so confusing, I don't really think anyone has a total grasp on them.

You should see the fights going on here between the cities and the agricultural users for water. The cities have not limited their growth, and now are finding "DUH, we need lots more water!" The aquifers here are being depleted at a rate that boggles the mind, and now the cities are going after more and more surface water, with a lot of it being pumped from the west side of the Continental Divide to the Front Range (east side). I was talking to some of our people at the Dept. of Reclamation, and found that we have no water rights to the snow melt on our side of the mountains! This conversation was about the water level in Lake Pueblo being so low, and how I thought the level should come up significantly with the spring runoff. I was told they have to let all that water pass through the dam to go downstream to other reservoirs!

If you want to hear something very interesting, investigate how they measure the water flow for this too! They account for damn near every drop of water that flows through our dams at reservoirs, and have to allow for evaporation for downstream water right holders. I would imagine this is a similar process in arid Texas too, as well as all the western states. I don't think it is near the issue east of the Missouri or Mississippi Rivers.

Here is a real interesting law too. Water that is natural to your basin can only be used once, and has to be returned to the system. However, if you have water pumped from another basin, you can reuse that water multiple times by treating it and reusing! All of the water we have rights to here in Pueblo West is water bought from the west slope of Colorado, and we are in the process of building a water recycling system. Confused yet?

jake00, on the surface, that sounds like a good idea, but in Colorado you have no right to use even the rain water that falls on your property, other than the water that naturally soaks into the ground. You can get permits to build ponds, but therein lies the key word, permits. And they do keep a close eye on thing like this. Remember, Big Brother IS watching you.

I have always heard that water in the arid west is worth much more than gold, and I see the truth in that more and more every day.

 

This might be what you heard about.................




Well, Well, Tax Due On Pump Repairs
Hearing No. 41,253
Issue: Whether labor to repair or replace residential water well pumps and tubing is subject to tax
The taxpayer drilled and repaired water wells, mostly on residential properties, and did not collect tax on the labor to repair or replace casings and pumps. The taxpayer argued that the items are integral parts of the residential realty since they are essential to the operation of the well, not easily removed, and usually convey with the property when the home is sold.

A water well system begins with a hole drilled several hundred feet deep. Casing and screen are installed in the hole and the casing is stabilized with concrete, which becomes permanently embedded in the realty. The Tax Division agreed that the drill hole and casing were improvements to realty. The tubing and pump are considered tangible personal property, and the Administrative Law Judge found that the labor to repair the pumps was taxable. (Labor to repair residential realty is not subject to tax, but labor to repair tangible personal property is.) (200210633H)

 

I'll have to look and see if I still have the paper I read it in and copy it here.The article just referred to the water pumped out of the well belonging to the state and said nothing about parts or labor.

 

They tried that on the county level in Maryland, its a wonder the politicians didn't get tar and feathered after one of their meetings. If you sit around and do nothing they will tax, you get mad and organize against it, and you can defeat it. Also the politcians have to come out to your area for the meeting, you don't have to go them in Austin, TX(?) Of course they are now talking about user tax on septic tanks, we want to know if they are going to help pay to fix failures.

 

They can and will tax anything they think they can get away with.

The water well tax almost makes sense compared to a tax either now in effect or planned in some city I read about a few years back. I almost think it was Portland Or. That city planned to tax people for the square footage of their property that was exposed to rain. That's right they were going to tax you on how much rain you got on your property. That is almost as good as a tax on air. Either way you have almost no control over how much you use and therefore they can tax you any way they like if they think they can get away with it.

Sheesh. Next thing they'll be taxing us for the number of times we beep our horns. Ooops ,maybe too late on that thought since they do fine you for beeping in many places.

In a way, a fine is a tax you pay for doing "bad". Taxes are a fine you pay for doing good, either way they gotcha.

Just my disgruntled opinion,

Jim Henderson

 

You can relax. The bill which is being considered is aimed at those who pull out large amounts from the aquifers. A domestic user such as yourself would not face any taxation unless you are using over a set amount (will probably be around 5000 gals per month). While the preservation of the aquifers is a problem that should be addressed by government, I am concerned about the large costs of such a program as meters would have to be installed and read and outputs monitored. I favor placing controls on the primary sources of the problem, large commercial users and leaving the others alone. The bill may never see the light of day.
Dono

 

HORSEPULLER -

It seems to me the local residents have grounds for a class action suit against the county for pulling their own water out from under them (not to seem too Californian about it) but that works both ways, don't you think?

Personally - (as far as I'm concerned) if that stuff is under MY land it is MINE!!!